NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN

 I don't know whose bright idea it was to coax Sean Connery back to the role of James Bond, (never say never again, indeed), outside of the Broccoli/Saltzman franchise but a bright idea it certainly was. "Never Say Never Again" was a remake of the earlier Connery vehicle "Thunderball", (one of the least of the Bond movies), and while die-hard fans of the series thought it was sacrilege that it was made at all, this is actually one of the best of all Bond movies with an excellent Lorenzo Semple Jr. Screenplay, ('Now you're on this, I hope we're going to have some gratuitous sex and violence!', Alec McCowen's Q tells Bond), a first-rate director in Irvin Kershner and two of the best of all Bond villains; Klaus Maria Brandauer as Largo, (a vast improvement on Adolfo Celi in the first film), and Barbara Carrera as the murderous Fatima. Throw in Max Von Sydow as Blofeld and you know you're onto a good thing. Did we need it? Absolutely not, unless, like me, you didn't care for "Thunderball" and there's no denying Connery was now past his sell-by-date but even his age and physical condition was factored into the plot. Hugely enjoyable.